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Forever 21 apologises to Gurmit Singh’s daughter over 'misogynistic' rap music in outlet

Forever 21 apologises to Gurmit Singh’s daughter over 'misogynistic' rap music in outlet

Popular ladies retail company Forever 21 apologised to local celebrity Gurmit Singh’s daughter, Gabrielle, after her open letter on the store’s offensive music went viral on social media.

According to her Tumblr blog update and Gurmit Singh’s latest Facebook status on Wednesday night, Forever 21 apologised on behalf of the staff in its 313 Somerset outlet for playing misogynistic rap music.

In her blog post, the 17-year-old said, “F21 has responded and apologised for the music, which is pretty great! However, misogyny as a common occurrence in our everyday lives is still a big issue…”

Last week, Gabrielle wrote an open letter to the retail company voicing her disapproval of the “misogynistic” and "vulgar" rap music that was played in the outlet while she visited.

“Earlier today, around 8pm, I was in your Somerset 313 outlet. I was there with my mother and my baby sister, and the moment we stepped in, your store was blaring rap music. Fine. I don’t mind rap. What I did mind was the lyrics, which declared “half you b***hes like p***y too”, she wrote.

She then highlighted how it was inappropriate to play such music that was “condoning abuse towards women”, when the Forever 21 brand caters to females, especially young teens. 

“You are a store that thirteen-year-old girls frequent. You are a store that women can bring their children to… So when your store decides to blast music that screams ‘you have a right to rape her’ and ‘I won’t have sex with her unless she has big breasts’ and ‘I’ll only love you if you suck my penis’, I have a problem with that.”

She added, “You fed a bunch of kids the idea that boys deserve sex, and girls are sex toys. Great job, Forever 21.”

Gabrielle even quoted a research article on the effects of music lyrics on people. 

“I’m looking at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ article ‘Committee on Public Education’ right now, and on page 341, it explains that explicit lyrics warp our perception of the world around us.” 

Gurmit Singh shared his daughter’s open letter on his page on Wednesday, a week after it was published on her blog. He also updated his page when the management responded. “Have taken down the post re Forever21. Manager has been contacted. Thanks all for your opinions and sharing”, he wrote. 

As of Thursday, her open letter has garnered close to 500 notes on Tumblr and has been shared on Facebook more than 1,000 times, according to The Straits Times.

Gabrielle has also received comments – mainly praise - from readers via Tumblr.